The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center’s lawyer Mohammed Abu Sneineh said that this step was in violation of a High Court order that had ruled against disposing of the bodies until it decides on the matter.

The High Court, which convened in Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday to look into a petition calling on the police and army to release the corpses of nine Palestinians they have been holding for weeks and months, postponed its decision until a later date, according to the lawyer.

However, he said, regardless of the action to bury the four in the cemeteries of numbers, the final High Court ruling will include them as well.

In addition to the nine martyrs' bodies that have been held in Israeli morgues (four of them already moved to the cemeteries of numbers), Israel is holding remains of 249 Palestinians killed by its forces many years ago in the cemeteries of numbers. The graves are identified by numbers rather than names, which is the reason they have been dubbed as cemeteries of numbers.

The Israeli military transferred, Friday, the corpses of two Palestinians, who were shot dead by army fire last month, in Tulkarem and Bethlehem, back to their families.

On Friday evening, the soldiers transferred the corpse of Qoteiba Zahran, 17, to the Palestinian side at military roadblock #104, west of Tulkarem city, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

His body was then moved to Dr. Thabet Thabet governmental hospital, where his family and hundreds of Palestinians, including the governor of Tulkarem, and dozens of security and police officers gathered.

Zahran will be buried in his town, ‘Illar, north of Tulkarem, on Saturday. He was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Saturday August 19, 2017, at Za’tara military roadblock after they claimed that he attempted to stab them.

Furthermore, the army transferred the body of Ra’ed Salhi, 21, to his family in Deheishe refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.

The Bethlehem branch of the Red Crescent said its teams received the body at military roadblock #300, north of Bethlehem, and moved it to Beit Jala governmental hospital, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered.

Salhi was shot and seriously injured by army fire, on August 9th, 2017, when the soldiers invaded Deheishe refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, while another Palestinian, identified as Abdul-Aziz Ahmad Arafa, was injured and taken prisoner by the soldiers.

After shooting him, the soldiers left Salhi bleeding without any medical attention for more than ninety minutes, and later moved him to Hadassah Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he died from his serious wounds, on Sunday September 3.

Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) on Friday evening released the body of the Palestinian martyr Raed al-Salhi who is from Dheisheh refugee camp to the south of Bethlehem.

PIC reporter said that the IOA handed over Salhi's body to the Palestinian Red Crescent crews at the northern Bethlehem checkpoint. The body was transferred to a local hospital in preparation to be buried on Saturday, he added.

Salhi, 21, died on Sunday of serious injuries he sustained after being shot many times by the Israeli soldiers who raided his house in August.

After being held for over two weeks, the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) will reportedly hand over the body of 17-year-old Qutaiba Zahran, from Illar town in Tulkarem, to the Palestinian side on Friday evening.

According to the Palestinian civil affairs authority, the handover of the body will take place at 08:00 pm at the military checkpoint known as 104, west of Tulkarem.

The civil authority said it had made persistent efforts to convince the Israeli side to release the body of Zahran, who was killed two weeks ago by Israeli soldiers at Za’atara checkpoint.

It added that it embarked on making all preparations in coordination with the concerned parties to receive the body of the martyr.

Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) announced its intention to return the body of martyr Raed al-Salhi, from al-Duhaisha refugee camp in southern Bethlehem, on Friday afternoon after being detained for five days.

The family of the slain Salhi said that the Palestinian Civil Liaison informed them about the Israeli decision to return the body of their son who died after falling into a coma for a month after being shot and injured by Israeli gunfire as Israeli soldiers stormed his home in order to arrest him.

Hundreds of Palestinians in al-Duhaisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem participated in a march that kicked off Tuesday evening in the camp in order to demand the return of the body of martyr Raed al-Salhi, 21, who was killed by Israeli forces.

The PIC reporter revealed that Palestinian youths chanted slogans praising the martyr and demanding the return of his body. They also condemned the Israeli offensive practices and called for halting security coordination between Israeli occupation authorities and the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian civil liaison underlined that Israeli occupation authorities have been refusing to return back the body of slain Salhi who was murdered by Israeli gunfire after storming his home last Sunday.

The Israeli general prosecution and Israeli police have continued to delay submitting a decision to the Israeli Supreme court regarding a plan to bury the bodies of two Jerusalemite Palestinians, who carried out deadly attacks on Israelis, in a so-called cemeteries of numbers.

On Wednesday, Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman reportedly issued a decision, acquiescing to a request by security minister Gilad Erdan, not to release the bodies of the men to their families for burial in occupied East Jerusalem, and to instead use them as a bargaining chip with Hamas to secure the return of Israeli soldiers believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs meanwhile filed an urgent request to the Israeli court to prevent burying the bodies in the cemetery of numbers, at least until the next court hearing, scheduled for September 13.

This comes in response to a decision by the Israeli security cabinet in January not to release the bodies of Hamas-affiliated Palestinians that had carried out deadly attacks, so that they may be used in negotiations.

However, a number of other bodies of Palestinian attackers allegedly affiliated to Hamas also remain held by Israel, which were presumably not included in the case because they originated from the occupied West Bank, over which the Israeli army -- not the police -- hold jurisdiction.

According to Mahmoud, there has been no official decision regarding the bodies, and should an official decision be made, there would be a number of additional procedures the families’ lawyers could take to appeal it.

The lawyer stressed that the previous statements reportedly made by Lieberman were not final decisions, and only responses to Erdan’s request to bury the two bodies as "enemy corpses" after he argued they met the criteria of the cabinet decision.

The January decision was challenged by the Israeli Supreme Court on the grounds that police did not have the authority to withhold bodies, and the court has given the prosecution multiple extensions to submit a final decision on whether they will be returned to their families, or buried in the cemeteries of numbers.

However, as the court reportedly ruled to reject both the request to return the bodies to their families and to bury them in the cemetery of numbers in June, it has remained unclear what outcome the court envisaged for the case.

A joint statement released by Addameer and Israeli minority rights group Adalah in March 2016 condemned Israel’s practice of withholding bodies as "a severe violation of international humanitarian law as well as international human rights law, including violations of the right to dignity, freedom of religion, and the right to practice culture."

Israel Hayom newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Israeli war minister, Avigdor Lieberman, in a response to a request by the public security minister, Gilad Erdan, has issued an order to bury withheld bodies of two Palestinian martyrs in Israel's cemeteries of numbers.

The paper said that the decision came in a bid to pressure Hamas in any future prisoners' swap negotiations with the Movement.

Fadi Qunbar

According to the paper, this move is based on a decision by the Israeli cabinet early in 2017 which stipulates not to hand over the bodies of Hamas-affiliated attackers.

The two bodies belong to Musbah Abu Sbeih, a resident of Silwan town who carried out an anti-occupation shooting attack in October 2016 and killed two Israelis in Jerusalem, and Fadi Qunbar, a resident of Jabel al-Mukaber neighborhood who carried out a car-ramming attack in December 2016 in which 4 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Israeli authorities still detain the bodies of more than 250 Palestinian martyrs in the cemeteries of numbers, some of whom have been kept there for decades, and refuse to hand them over to their families.

In October 2016, the Palestinian national campaign to restore martyrs' bodies submitted a request to return bodies of Palestinian martyrs held in Israel's cemeteries of numbers but received no response.

Israeli authorities released the corpses of four Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces during the month of July to their families, in the southern occupied West Bank, Friday.

According to Ma’an, authorities released the corpses of Abdullah Taqatqa, 24, from Marah Maalla in southern Bethlehem, and Muhammad Tnouh, 26, from the Tuqu town in southeast of Bethlehem, to Palestinian Red Crescent crews at the Mazmoria checkpoint east of Bethlehem.

The corpses were then transferred to the Beit Jala governmental hospital to undergo tests before determining the time that funerals will be held for the slain Palestinians.

Tnouh was killed by Israeli forces on July 20th, in Tuqu, after attempting to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli soldiers, while Taqatqa was killed nearly a week ago, near the Gush Etzion junction, for allegedly attempting to carry out an attack on Israeli soldiers stationed in the area.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Committee of Civil Affairs confirmed that it had received the corpse of Rafaat Hirbawi, 29,in Hebron city. Hirbawi was killed on July 18, after carrying out a vehicular attack that injured three Israeli soldiers.

The corpse of Ammar Ahmad Khalil Tirawi, aged 34, from Nablus’ Balata refugee camp and a resident of the Ramallah-area village of Kafr Ein, was returned at an Israeli checkpoint near the village of Abud, in northwest Ramallah.

Palestinian Civil Affairs and Tirawi’s family received his body in a Red Crescent ambulance at the Ramallah Medical Center.

Tirawi’s funeral is expected to take place Saturday afternoon in Kafr Ein.

Tirawi was killed in armed clashes with Israeli forces, in the Ramallah-area village of Nabi Saleh, on July 16. He left behind a wife and a small daughter. He was also a former prisoner of Israel who had spent more than seven years in Israeli prisons.

Israel has justified its policy of withholding Palestinian bodies killed by Israeli forces, claiming that the funerals provide grounds for “incitement” against the Israeli state, though the practice has been widely condemned by rights groups as an act of collective punishment, and deemed ineffective by Israeli security officials.

The policy has become so ingrained in the political climate of the occupied territory that Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, mostly during clashes, are quickly buried by their families in order to avoid the months of mourning which ensue when Israeli forces seize the corpses.

A member of Ir Amim, an Israeli rights organization, said that there have also been cases of Israeli forces digging up these graves in order to confiscate the corpses from the families.

During two weeks of unrest in occupied East Jerusalem, centered around Israeli security restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a video went viral showing the corpse of Muhammad Abu Ghannam, wrapped in a bloodied white sheet, being hurled over the walls of the al-Makassed hospital by family members desperate to hide his corpse from Israeli forces, who were raiding the hospital at the time.

The university student had been shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces amid the Al-Aqsa unrest.

The four slain Palestinians returned to their families, for burial, were among 53 Palestinians killed this year by Israelis. In the same time period, 13 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians, nine of whom were uniformed Israeli officers.

Scores of Palestinians have been killed in the past two years for alleged or actual attacks on Israelis, and during clashes with Israeli forces since a wave of unrest began in October of 2015. However, activists have pointed out that Palestinians experience routine Israeli violence on a daily basis regardless of any “upticks” of violence.

Palestinians have cited the daily frustrations and regular Israeli military violence imposed by Israel’s nearly half century occupation of the Palestinian territory as main drivers for Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Thousands have participated Saturday morning in the funeral of the two martyrs Abdullah Taqatqa and Mohammad Tenouh, from Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

According to the PIC reporter, the funeral procession set off from Beit Jala governmental hospital in Bethlehem, and headed towards Takoa town where the martyrs’ families gave their final farewells. Their bodies were then taken to the local mosque for funeral prayers.

Mourners marched in the town’s streets holding the bodies on their shoulders, until they reached the cemetery where they buried the two slain Palestinians.

Following the burial, violent clashes broke out in the town between Israeli occupation forces and young men in the town amid heavy firing of teargas bombs by IOF soldiers.

On Friday evening, Israel returned the bodies of the two martyrs who were both killed by Israeli soldiers after allegedly carrying out anti-occupation stabbing attacks last month.

After long months in Israeli morgue refrigerators, the Israeli security authorities decided to hand over on Friday the bodies of four Palestinian martyrs, who had been killed by soldiers during different periods.

The martyrs, whose bodies are to be released today, are of Amer Aal Khalil, from Kafr Ein in Ramallah, Mohamed Tannouh, from Taqua town in Bethlehem, Abdullah Taqateqa, from Marah Rabah village in Bethlehem, and Ra’fat Harbawi, from al-Khalil.

According to the Palestinian Commission for Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, the bodies belong to citizens who had been shot dead by Israeli soldiers over previous months.

Israel systematically holds the bodies of Palestinians who have been shot dead while attacking or being suspected of attacking its soldiers or settlers as part of mass punitive measures used solely against Palestinian families.

Israel also demolishes homes of Palestinian families and displaces them if their relatives carry out attacks.

The the Israeli Supreme Court ruled Tuesday evening the release of the bodies of three Palestinian youths, who were killed after they carried out a deadly shooting attack on two Israeli policemen at al-Aqsa Mosque on July 14.

The court ordered that the bodies of the three young men must be released within 30 hours, arguing that police do not have any authority to hold the bodies of Umm al-Fahm residents.

However, the court said that Israeli police could set conditions to restrict their funeral.

Al-Aqsa shooting attack triggered an unprecedented security crackdown by Israel that was ensued by more than a week of escalating unrest. At least five Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured while several others were detained since the incident.

“We, in Jerusalem, feel like we are completely on our own, facing ongoing Israeli violations, while some Arab government are competing with each other on who is better in normalizing with Israel, while its soldiers are invading surgery rooms, attacking staff and patients, and are attempting to abduct wounded Palestinians, and even the corpses of those who were killed by the army.”

This was a statement issued by the al-Makassed hospital, in occupied East Jerusalem, after Israeli soldiers, once again, invaded the medical center, on Friday, before attacking patients and medical staff, in addition to breaking into patient’s rooms, and even surgery wards.

The administration of al-Makassed said the latest attack was the ugliest, and most violent, since the beginning of the first Intifada in 1987.

“The soldiers resorted to the excessive use of force against the physicians, nurses, staffers and even patients, in a direct violation of all international laws and human rights agreements,” it said, “On Friday alone, and by 4:30 in the afternoon, were provided medical care to more than 100 wounded Palestinians, and fifty others on Thursday. Many of the inured suffered serious injuries to the head, chest and abdomen, and we had to perform urgent surgeries to all of them.”

“There is also a large number of wounded Palestinians, who could not make it into the hospital because of the extensive Israeli siege around the it, and the heavy military deployment in its various wards.”

The hospital administration also denounced an invasion carried out by more than fifty Israeli soldiers, who broke into the urgent care units, blood bank, and various wards in the medical center, looking for wounded Palestinians to abduct them.

The soldiers even assaulted Palestinians who came to donate blood, before kicking them and the medial staff out of the blood bank unit.

The hospital called on the international community, all legal and human rights groups, to provide the urgently needed protection against these escalating, serious Israeli violations, especially since Tel Aviv pays no respect to the sanctity of medical centers, and related human rights agreements.

“We feel we are on our own, facing an unprecedented escalation, and the usual Arab and international silence and complicity. While some Arab countries are rushing to normalize with Israel, and extending bridges of love and cooperation with Tel Aviv, it is responding to that with more violations, storming hospitals with automatic machine guns, and even invading surgery rooms.”

The hospital thanked all Palestinians who donated blood, and added that at least 220 Palestinians donated blood on Friday alone.

The latest invasions into the hospital were not the first, as the soldiers have raided it, and its branches many times before, and even fired gas bombs at it, including the maternity and surgery wards.

Articles documenting some of the previous invasions into Al-Makassed hospital